Scapa Flow

Scapa Flow is a body of water in the Orkney Islands, Scotland, United Kingdom. Surrounded by the islands of Mainland, Graemsay, Burray, South Ronaldsay and Hoy, it is best known as the site of the United Kingdom's chief naval base during the First and Second World Wars.

Related Topics:
Orkney Islands - Scotland - United Kingdom - Mainland - Graemsay - Burray - South Ronaldsay - Hoy - Naval - First - Second

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Already used by warships in the Viking era, the base remained in use by the Royal Navy until 1956. During both World Wars, German U-boats tried to attack British ships in Scapa Flow. Both attempts in World War I failed and U-18 and U-116 were sunk. Early in World War II, U-47 penetrated Scapa Flow on October 14 1939 and caught the battleship HMS Royal Oak in Scapa Bay. U-47s torpedoes blew a 30-foot (9 m) hole in Royal Oak, which quickly sank. Of the 1,400-man crew, 833 were lost. The wreck is now a protected war grave. After the attack Winston Churchill ordered the construction of a series of causeways to block the eastern approaches to Scapa Flow. These "Churchill barriers" now provide road access from Mainland to Burray and South Ronaldsay.

Related Topics:
Viking - Royal Navy - 1956 - German - U-boat - ''U-47'' - October 14 - 1939 - HMS ''Royal Oak'' - Winston Churchill

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Three days after the submarine attack, four Luftwaffe Junkers Ju 88 bombers raided Scapa Flow in one of the first bombing attacks on Britain in the war. They badly damaged the elderly battleship HMS Iron Duke, but one bomber was shot down by an anti-aircraft battery on Hoy.

Related Topics:
Luftwaffe - Junkers Ju 88 - HMS ''Iron Duke''

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Although "scarper", a slang word meaning to run away, originally derives from an Italian word scappare, meaning "to escape", it became much more popular after the First World War, when Cockney rhyming slang started to use the rhyme "Scapa Flow" - "go".

Related Topics:
Italian - First World War - Cockney rhyming slang

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The Scotch whisky Scapa, distilled in Kirkwall, is named for this area.

Related Topics:
Scotch whisky - Scapa - Kirkwall

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